Let's Begin

Ch. 14

Pepper wasn't too terribly surprised to find someone in Rhodey's office even if it was nearly 1:30 in the morning. It was a military base and she knew most people on the base suffered from PTSD, leaving them awake at odd hours of the night. At first, she had worried that it would be a problem, but that wasn't the case.

Even with the multiple people roaming across the base, it wasn't hard to get into Rhodey's office. After telling them she'd been sent to pick something up for him to help him sleep at night, the officer let her right up to his office. She had barely sat down at his desk when his computer lit up, asking for James Rhodes's access code. Looking around, her eyes caught on a bright yellow sticky note near the mouse that read Password: WarMachineR0x.

"Really?" she muttered to herself, typing in the password quickly.

As soon as the password was entered, a memo popped up on the screen with a note addressed to Tony. Tony, transfusions can lead to death. She frowned at the ominous note before a map appeared on the screen and a count down.

"Two hours, fifty-nine minutes, and forty-seven seconds remaining," a mechanical voice announced.

Pepper jumped and scrambled for her phone, speed dialling Tony. He picked up on the second ring.

"Pep? What's going on?"

"I found the clue," she told him. He tried to tell her off for leaving the house, but she ignored him in favour of saying, "At Rhodey's office. There's a map and some weird message."

"Send it to me," he said quickly.

Pepper took a photo of the computer screen and sent it to Tony. On the other end of the phone line, Tony's voice was muffled and she couldn't understand what he was saying.

"What? Did you figure it out already?" she asked. Had he solved the clue already? It wasn't even a riddle, just a sentence that sounded ominous.

Muting his side of the phone, Tony turned to Rhodey sharply.

"Where's the nearest blood bank?" he asked. He was really hoping he was wrong, but he needed to check and make sure. The clue was so obvious this time and it was clear Leonard wanted him to solve his riddles and find Peter, but at what cost?

"Blood bank? Why would you need a blood bank?" Rhodey asked. Tony rolled his eyes. "It's about three miles out, but why?"

Unmuting the phone, Tony turned his attention back to Pepper and said, "Pepper, get to the Compound and get Medical ready." He heard her sharp intake of breath and knew she was thinking the worst. "Nothing's wrong, I just need it ready in case we find Peter and he has something in his bloodstream."

"Okay."

Tony was already out the door and back in his suit, Rhodey following close behind and still in his pyjamas when Pepper's voice came again. "Tony?"

"Huh?" Tony replied, hesitating before launching into the air.

"Be safe."

He grinned, powering up his thrusters.

"Aren't I always?"

* * * * *

Peter woke up in a different room than the one he'd fallen asleep in. He didn't know how (and wasn't sure if he wanted to know how) he'd been moved without being woken up, but this room was a lot newer and had real lighting. Once again, his arms were tied together in front of him but what was new was that he was sitting on top of a very tall podium. As he glanced down, he had no doubt a drop from that height would kill him. He wasn't even sure how a building could be so tall and empty, but he was clearing hovering several stories above the ground.

"Wakey, wakey," Mr. Patrick grinned, appearing in front of Peter from behind a glass window. "Daddy found your little gift and has come to get you."

Peter wasn't sure if the no talking rule still applied, so he decided it'd be best to just stay quiet.

"Do you think he'll solve the equation in order to get the access code?" Mr. Patrick asked Peter. Again, Peter didn't reply. He was done entertaining Mr. Patrick now that his dad was here (allegedly). "I guess we'll have to wait and see." He turned to Giant that was standing beside him a said, "Start it up, Amos."